• Address:

    Charles Bridge, Prague 1

  • Client:

    Prague Technical Administration of Communications
    Prague City Gallery

  • Description of the work:

    Conservation and construction work

  • Realization:

    2023–2024

The restoration work was carried out for two clients. These were repairs and restoration of the stone elements of the Charles Bridge, while strictly respecting the monumental value of this important engineering and artistic work.

The client for the professional repair of the damaged 12th pillar of the Charles Bridge was the Prague Technical Administration of Communications. The restoration, transport and reinstallation of the copy of the St. Lutgardis sculpture on the bridge was commissioned by the Prague City Gallery (GHMP), the administrator of the bridge’s sculptural decoration.

Charles Bridge is a national cultural monument located in the heart of the historical core of the Prague city, which has been entered to UNESCO list since 1992. The 500-metre-long bridge, built between 1357 and 1400, is undoubtedly one of the most famous symbols of Prague. The original sculpture of St. Lutgardis is now housed in the lapidary of the Czech National Museum. The sculpture was created around 1710 by Matthias Bernard Braun, one of the most important Baroque sculptors in Bohemia.

The contractual works included the restoration reconstruction and strengthening of the damaged stone masonry of the 12th pillar of the Charles Bridge in order to be able to put back a copy of the St. Lutgardis sculpture.  This was followed by work on a copy of the sculpture created in 1992. The sculpture and its pedestal, deposited since 2020, due to the disrepair of the pillar in Buštěhrad, were treated by restorers and conservators, professionally transported from the GHMP depository to Prague, and finally mounted back on the 12th pillar of the Charles Bridge.

More about the sculture of St. Lutgardis.